Tackey & Tsubasa - Best

Released on the coinciding dates of Johnny's Entertainment duo Tackey & Tsubasa's five year anniversary and Tsubasa Imai's 26th birthday, the aptly-named Tackey & Tsubasa Best is a collection of fifteen of their best-selling hits and ten previously unreleased tracks.

The album's introduction, Overture, doesn't do a particularly good job of leading in to the album's first full track, a relatively unmemorable ballad. We're left wanting a crescendo after the build up, rather than pleasant but ultimately unexciting True Heart. Luckily, the first of an astonishing seven solos from the two discs is Ki-Se-Ki, the theme of television drama Taiyou no Kisetsu, and it is here that we really start to feel as though we're listening to polished, best-selling tracks.

Yume Monogatari is a good example of the kind of tracks that instantly stand out on this album, and it's also the first of the duo's number one singles featured on their best of. Picking up the pace from the slower tracks, Yume Monogatari sets the standard for the rest of the album, leaving a lasting impression that will have you humming the tune long after you hear it. The relentlessly catchy, upbeat track kicks off a hard-hitting lineup of best-selling singles that leave no doubt as to why all but two featured on the album peaked at the number one spot on the Oricon Chart's weekly top 200.

More serious and varied tracks like Serenade and Kamen are tempered by uplifting, fun songs like Venus and Ho! Summer, leaving the first CD of fifteen tracks with only one thing to complain about: there's almost no time to stop to appreciate each individually outstanding track. The final three tracks of the first disc comprise all of Tackey & Tsubasa's recent releases for 2007, finishing with the explosive Samurai single, arguably the heaviest track on the album with catchy vocals backed up by grungy guitars.

REAL DX and Words of LOVE, the opening tracks on disc two, are a real departure from what we've heard before, with a strong eurobeat flavor. The additional disc comprises of nine previously unreleased songs from as far back as the pair's pre-debut days, and while it's certainly not impossible to listen to, it lacks the impact of the first disc. It's clear when listening that the money-makers are clustered on disc one, but fans will enjoy album versions of unreleased tracks like REAL DX and the fun, involving track Aishiteruze T&T.

There are definitely more weak points to the second disc, which lacks the punch that would keep it in your CD player, but for long-time fans of Tackey & Tsubasa it is a chance to hear previously unreleased material.

For those not already familiar with the duo, their first "best of" album seems a good place to start, packed as it is with chart-topping singles varying from J-pop-staple ballads to upbeat, catchy anthems. There is a fair variety of musical influence throughout the album rather than just your standard J-pop, leaving a little something for everyone. As their first compilation, the amount of number one singles is nothing to be laughed at and well worth your time for new and old fans alike.